Actress Anne Francis dies

Actress Anne Francis, who appeared in dozens of television shows and films including Forbidden Planet, died in California on …

Actress Anne Francis, who appeared in dozens of television shows and films including Forbidden Planet, died in California on Sunday, aged 80.

Francis died of complications of pancreatic cancer at a retirement home in Santa Barbara, California, after being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2007, her daughter, Jane Uemura, told the Los Angeles Times.

The New York-born actress was best known for her roles in the 1956 science-fiction classic Forbidden Planet opposite Leslie Nielsen and Walter Pidgeon. Nielsen died last year.

She was also known for her title role playing a female private detective in the mid-1960s television series, Honey West, which earned her a Golden Globe.

Without becoming a major film star, she also had starring or supporting roles in movies including Blackboard Jungle, Funny Girl, and Hook, Line and Sinker, but later more frequently appeared in guest star roles on television.